Responsable : Dr Isabelle RAGNARD, Lecturer

Study medieval music performance practice at the legendary Sorbonne, in the heart of Paris!
 
The Sorbonne offers an advanced degree programme, the only one of its kind in the world, which provides in-depth performance and practical training together with theoretical studies. This course of study is essential for any vocalist or instrumentalist interested in pursuing a serious professional career as a performer of medieval music. The Sorbonne offers a full-time, total-immersion course of study aimed at pre-professional and professional musicians of any age who wish to study at the highest level, within a university context and in conjunction with our partner institutions, including the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique, Fondation Royaumont, École Nationale des Chartes, École Pratique des Hautes Études, and the Musée National du Moyen Âge. 
 

A diploma programme which opens career paths:
 

Numerous career possibilities are open to students who obtain the diploma:
- Professional specialization as a performer of medieval music (vocal or instrumental).
- The possibility to continue with doctoral studies (via the diploma programme Master 2 Research or the degree of Master/Doctor of Musical Arts.
- A teaching position in the field of medieval music.
- A teaching position in a specialized school in France (university, CRR, etc.) under the condition of obtaining the necessary diplomas and corresponding job recruitment.
- Employment within musical organizations such as festivals, record labels, or specialized musical press (in relation with the Sorbonne's diploma programme in music administration ('Administration et Gestion de la musique').

The team

• Dr Frédéric BILLIET, Professor of musicology (Sorbonne Université): medieval music history, iconography
• Brigitte LESNE, director of ensembles Discantus and Alla francesca : performance of liturgical chant and early polyphony;
• Marc MAUILLON, instructor [PAST] (Sorbonne Université) singer, specialist in early music repertoires (http://www.marcmauillon.com) : performance of vernacular and Latin song, polyphony
• Dr Isabelle RAGNARD, Lecturer in Musicology (Sorbonne Université and Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris): music history, secular music, codicology, paleography, performance
• Raphael PICAZOS, instructor (Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris): improvisation, counterpoint, singing from medieval manuscripts.

…and other medievalists from Sorbonne Université and partner institutions.

Structure of the programme:

 
This Master’s degree programme is organized into four modules of instruction, each one containing several elements:
- specialized courses in musicology and research seminars with specialists in medieval musicology.
- practical courses in interpretation (medieval plainsong, polyphonic and monophonic repertoires of the Middle Ages, both sacred and secular) with directors of internationally-acclaimed ensembles for medieval music.
- practical courses in medieval counterpoint and improvisation techniques, held at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris, as well as courses in other medieval-studies disciplines offered by various partner institutions or other departments of the Sorbonne (in conjunction with each student's research project).
- the diploma candidate must prepare a final concert and successfully defend a research-project document which is linked to the final concert, but which must also demonstrate a profound and scientific knowledge of written sources and of bibliography.
 
The programme will permit the student to develop competence in the following areas:
- styles and interpretation, modality, rhetoric, memory, ear-training, improvisation, extemporisation, ensemble music.
- history of medieval music, paleography, transcription and edition of texts, codicology, liturgy, introduction of medieval languages, music theory.